The invention generally relates to the field of exercise or sports equipment. More specifically, it relates to a high performance jump rope apparatus whereby adjusting jump rope length, inserting a different jump rope and adding or removing weight is easily and quickly accomplished.
Jumping rope enhances endurance, strength, quickness, coordination and balance. More and more people who enjoy exercising are jumping rope, because it allows maximum conditioning and calorie consumption in a relatively short exercise bout. The natural benefits of jumping rope have become so well known, that fitness clubs offer jump rope conditioning courses to meet the needs of a fast, fun and efficient cardiovascular workout. In fact, jumping rope has become so popular that competitive rope jumping is a sport all to its own.
Originally a rope user would use a plain unadorned rope. Such a rope was prone to becoming excessively twisted and was sometimes hard on the hands. Later simple handles were attached to the ends of the jump rope partly to alleviate these problems; however such a design and construction still led to twisting and lagging of the rope in relation to the hands during use due to the fixed connection between the rope and the handle.
Eventually, a jump rope having wooden handles and a ball bearing assembly, fit into a recess in each handle, was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,125 to Hinds. The ball bearing assembly was intended to uncouple the rope from the handle to avoid twisting and lagging. However, such structures were generally too expensive, and too difficult to disassemble and replace or repair. Hinds taught using cylinder shaped jump rope handles containing a hemispherical or funnel-shaped socket in which a small ball was movably retained. The rope passed through the center of the small ball, and the rope was then fixed inside the handle by a knot. This design, despite marked improvements in functionality (decreased rope twisting and lagging), had the drawback that adjustment of the jump rope length was cumbersome and time consuming because the device had to be disassembled by pulling the small ball through the rear end of each handle. This delay negatively affects athletes training for maximum aerobic capacity, especially when various length or weighted ropes are necessary to accomplish their training needs optimally. Further, such rope-adjusting difficulties and time delays also hamper jump ropes used in a gym or fitness club setting, as equipment that is too difficult or time consuming to adjust often goes unused.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,932 to Schuentz also discloses a length adjusting means. Rope adjustment is accomplished by inserting the jump rope tail end through an opening in the jump rope handle and looping the rope back towards the running portion of the rope, and tying the tail to the running portion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,606 to Hunn discloses a ring member secured to a bearing on a jump rope handle that is further connected to a hook or eye attached to a jump rope. Various length jump ropes can be attached to the handles ring members, or a jump rope can be permanently fixed at a desired length via a rope clamp. This design only works with ropes of fixed lengths thus entailing additional costs to purchase multiple ropes if different lengths are needed. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,297 to Dennis, Jr. teaches inserting a cord through either of two receiving holes attached to a handle, whereby the cord is then adjusted by means of a cord clamp. The excess rope resides inside one of two parallel passages in a free-spinning bearing spindle inside each of the handles. Despite a relatively simple mechanism for adjusting or changing desired ropes or rope lengths, this invention is still prone to twisting or lagging when the rope makes an obtuse angle with the long axis of the spindle.
As jump rope handles were developed to allow various rope adjustments and enhance speed and smoothness of rotation, a means for adding weight to the handles became desirable to increase the cardiovascular work out, and to strengthen user""s upper body. Schuentz (U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,932) discloses a jump rope having hollow shell handles that allows water or sand to be added to create a weighted handle. Other jump rope inventions disclose attaching weights to one or both ends of each jump rope handle as in a patent to Donohue (U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,037). Another design even connected a jump rope to a set of hand weights as disclosed in a patent to Grant (U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,624). All such designs limit the users abilities to manipulate the weights in the jump rope handles, have uneven weight placement, and/or require significant time to adjust the weights. These designs generally do not allow a comfortable and natural handgrip feeling when weights are added to the jump rope handgrips.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,827 to Winston teaches using a hollow body member with an access opening to a storage compartment for holding exercise weights. A plug is inserted after removal or insertion of a weight to maintain the structure of the jump rope handle. This invention uses soft plastic handles, which may require the user to grip the handles tightly in order to keep the inserted weights stable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,173 to Joutras also discloses a jump rope that allows inserting a weight into the end of a handle body portion; however this invention provides no support means for fixing the weight to prevent the weight from rotating or jarring inside the handle. Further, an extra hand guard and a screw down cap present the user with a somewhat complicated means of securing the weights.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,772 to Winston discloses a jump rope handle that allows a weight to be inserted; however, a rope length adjusting means is not simultaneously provided. Further, like the Jountras patent, no means is provided for supporting the weight to prevent the weight from rotating or jarring inside the handle.
Thus, prior art in the inventive field teaches complicated and time consuming means for adjusting jump rope handle weight or jump rope length. Further, many disclosures require the use of separate ropes or weight securing means that can allow the weights to become loose.
It is therefore desirable to produce a jump rope apparatus that allows a user to quickly and easily adjust jump rope length externally, without having to open the jump rope handgrips.
It is also desirable to produce a jump rope apparatus that allows the addition or removal of finely incremented weights that are supported within the handgrips.
It is also desirable to produce a jump rope apparatus that contains a readily removable and adjustable bearing to eliminate rope twisting.
It is further desirable to produce a jump rope apparatus whereby the jump rope can be easily changed to allow weighted or speed ropes of varying lengths to be easily attached.
It is also desirable to produce a jump rope apparatus, wherein the handles can readily be used without a rope for practice purposes or as hand weights for exercise.
The present invention satisfies the above-described need by providing a jump rope apparatus wherein each tail or end of a jump rope is: 1) inserted into a channel cut into the base of a ball-shaped bearing member; 2) passes through a groove cut into the head of the bearing member; 3) exits through a second channel to emerge from the bearing member parallel to the remaining or running portion of the rope; and 4) is attached thereto. The ball-shaped bearing member is rotatably retained within a hollow handgrip member. A support structure enables the addition and removal of weights and removably fixes and supports the weights inside each handgrip member. The support structure also removably retains the ball-shaped bearing member inside the handgrip member and tensions the bearing member against a frictionless bearing surface inside each handgrip to allow the bearing member and the attached jump rope to easily rotate in relation to the handgrip. A spring-loaded cap holds the weights and the support structure in a stable and relatively fixed position.